Chhath Pooja leaves canal site filled with garbage

Ludhiana: The Chhath Puja devotees left heavy waste on the outskirts of the canals, but the administration failed to stop the water pollution in ponds, rivulets and canals of the city as well as on the outer side of Ludhiana.

Chhath Puja is being celebrated six days after Diwali with people thronging to the banks of river and water bodies to offer prayers to the sun and his mythical sister Chhati Maiya, Chhat Puja and throw the things in the ponds, rivulets and canals to add to the water pollution in Ludhiana.

There was not even a single water body in the entire city that has clean water and lifted the dump left by devotees. Moreover, they did not even cut any challan for throwing the waste in the river. The devotees mostly travel to far-off places like Phillaur looking for the water bodies and Sidhwan Canal also in the city.

Now, after Chhath, large heaps of dump could be seen on banks of river but Municipal Corporation authorities did not lifted garbage dump which is giving a foul smell to the passersby on the canal side and has become a breeding home for mosquitoes.

The canals are filled with filth, sludge and municipal waste. Despite the fact, many migrant families from the Bihar and Jharkhand have gone to their native places on the occasion even than the canal sites and places under bridges are filled with waste left after performing rituals.

But the district administration did not do anything to counter with this problem because of which the water bodies get polluted, previously bans were imposed but not this time they were brought to strict implementation, and MCL should have taken serious note of it.

The Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, Ravi Bhagat was not available for the comments.